Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Bronze Age Nubia

"...I propose...that for most of the Bronze Age Nubian political systems were strongly centralized, covered large territories, and were akin to states and kingdoms...(pg. 1)
--Ancient Nubia, Egypt's Rival in Africa, David O'Connor

From a review on Ancient Nubia: Egypt's Rival in Africa by Leo Depuydt in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, July-Sept, 1996:

"In the first two-thirds, David O'Connor provides a sweeping survey of ancient Nubia, with many maps and illustrations. The author succeeds in removing Nubia from the shadow of Egypt, placing it on a pedestal for all to see as a brilliant African civilization. It also becomes clear from reading this work how much archaeological work still remains to be done in the Sudan, in comparison with better-explored Egypt, in order to flesh out the picture that we have today. This volume from the pen of a leading archaeologist adequately summarizes where the study of ancient Nubia stands in the early 1990s, when it is enjoying ever increasing popularity, and this in a conceptual framework that is at once open-minded, progressive, sensitive, and refreshing."

Thursday, December 17, 2009

More on Nubia

From the book, LOST NUBIA: A Centennial Exhibit of Photographs from the 1905-1907 Egyptian Exhibition of the University of Chicago, by John A. Larson.

"The earliest-known Nubian culture, called he 'A-Group,' flourished from about 3500 to 3100 BC....and our knowledge of them comes primarily from archeological excavations of their cemeteries...It is believed that the A-Group served as trading partners with the Egyptians by transporting exotic products from tropical East Africa through their territory to the Egyptian trading post...The A-group people seem to disappear from the archeological record about 3100 BC, during the time of the First Dynasty of Egypt (emphasis mine) (p. vii)."

In the book on page 25, a photograph showing reliefs of elephants and giraffes show one of the monuments created by the Nubians. James Henry Breasted who took the photograph wrote that it was done around 3000 BC.

Two questions: Is it not possible the A-Group became the primary members of the First Dynasty or at least serious consultants? Is it possible the A-Group were the First Dynasty Egyptians? Could they have heavily integrated the population to create the first Dynasty?

According to the book, little is known about the B-Group (pg. vii) that came after the A-Group. Is it not possible that some of the A-Group--or at least a large segment--remained in Nubia and that is how the monument Breasted photographed came to be?

An assumption: Egypt must have existed before the first Dynasty to be a trade partner with Nubia and Nubia must have developed before Egypt due to its developed trade with much of Africa. It appears to me Nubia developed trade with Egypt--not the other way around.

Who came first--the Nubians or the Egyptians?

Your Nubian detective is still on the search.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

More from ARCHEOLOGY--part 2

In the November/December 2009 issue of ARCHEOLOGY, "The Gold of Kush," Geoff Emberling writes:

"Kush controlled a vast area and was able to mass significant military power. Yet Kush seemed to lack some of the characteristics of other civilizations: it had only one city of any size (Kerma), did not leave a trace of writing, and did not make extensive use of administrative tools such as seals (pg. 50)." {Emphasis mine.}

So where did everything from the First Dynasty come from?

Read the section below from the following research, "Nubia and Egypt,":http://nubia.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page.

"Nubia also figures in the archealogical research of scholar Bruce Williams, who along with other writers, suggest a Nubian influence underlying the establishment of the Egyptian state...Williams focuses on the south, based on the initial predominant influence of the south, closest to Nubia, and various cultural linkages with the south such as discovery of the Qustul incense burner and of a city at Kerma dating back to 4,500 BCE.

"A number of scholars demonstrate that the ancient Egyptians were closely related to Nilo/Sudanic peoples like Nubians, sharing substantial genetic admixture, and cultural elements such as the pharonic structure (Keita 1992, Krings et al. 1999, Williams 1999, Yurco, 1989).

"A number of writers dispute any claim that the Nubian kings were responsible for the genesis of the Egyptian monarchies that followed.] Williams however notes that his research advanced no claim of a Nubian origin or genesis for the pharonic monarchy. Instead he holds that the archaeological data shows Nubian linkages and influence in helping to "fashion pharaonic civilization." Such data includes detailed excavations of the burial place of the Nubian rulers with date stamps well before the historical First Dynasty of Egypt. The size and wealth of the tombs were also vastly greater than that of the well-known Abydos tombs in Egypt."

As for now, the evidence is piling up that Nubia--not UFOs, for example--were the primary influence on the development of Egypt's First Dynasty.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Archeology and the Nubian Empire

Geoff Emberling of the Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago attended an archeological dig in 2006.

He writes in the November/December 2009 issue of ARCHEOLOGY {The Gold of Kush):

"...in the winter of 2006, we recognized how our excavation could contribute to the emerging picture of Kush as a powerful kingdom rather than a remote Egyptian outpost (55)."

I thought we already realized Kush (and Nubia itself) was an independent nation separate from Egypt. In fact, we have already shown Nubia may have been a major--if not the only--influence on the First Dynasty of Egypt.

On page fifty, Emberling writes, "Excavation over the past 75 years at Kerma and over the past 10 years in the fourth Cataract, began to suggest the early Kingdom of Kush was larger than previously believed...Compared to other civilizations of the region, such as Mesopotamia, early Kush controlled a vast area and was able to mass significant military power."

This too we have discussed.

On page 58: "...{W}e were amazed to have the first clear evidence that they {ancient gold miners} were not Egyptian in origin, but had been used earlier by the Kingdom of Kush."

Why the amazement? Nubia was mining gold before the First Dynasty--or so it appears to me.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Working in Isolation

OK--I've tried to find out as much as I can about Nubia. Got a good lead yesterday from Charles Ellwood Jones and I'll be downloading the file today--review in the near future. (It's 105 pages long.)

But I'm still working in isolation.

Just when I think I may be close, I discover research that is out of alignment, if you will, or not based on any real standards.

So, yes, I'm asking for help from any Nubia or Egyptian scholars--and that's probably you because you're reading this even if you don't think of yourself as a scholar.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Monday, December 7, 2009

The Hall of Records

In yesterday's blog, I wrote about research including information from Jalandris and his book THE HALLS OF RECORDS.

To find out more about The Hall of Records, click here

and here

and here. Below is one paragraph of interest--

"Dr. Messiha claimed to have found the Hall Of Records in 1986, but for some reason he said that the world would not be able to open it until the year 2000. He claimed to be the 'opener of the way' to the Hall, but died in 1998 (from Everything2 : Hall of Records)."

It's 2009. Does the Hall of Records exist or not?

And how does this show us that Nubia was the originator of Egypt?

More to come.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

NUBIA STARTED IT ALL

I'm going to quote from the book, EGYPT REVISITED:

"Origin of Egypt:

"Apart from the question of Egypt's chronology, there remains the intriguing question as to who were the Egyptians and from where did they originate? In reviewing Egypt's beginnings, we find an advanced civilization already intact from the earliest Dynasty. The fact has perplexed historians down through the ages. Common sense dictates tha if Egypt began fully mature, then it's civilization must have originated elsewhere. 'We find when we discover Egypt in what we call the first Dynasty, under Menes, that it is at its absolute zenith of culture in painting, sculpture, architecture...It is very much as if th Egyptians found themselves the inheritors of a great ready-made culture of which they could take advantage...but which they themselves did not create' (Jalandris. THE HALLS OF RECORDS, p. 4)."

In 1962, before the rise of flood waters, Keith C. Steele who was then the director of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago "...found the birthplace of a pharaonic-centered civilization several generations older than the first historic Egyptian dynasty. There, in Qustul, Nubia, prehistory was transformed...{Steele's} discovery, along with nformation excavated from tombs, proved that Egyptian civilization and culture had not only originated in the south, but that in some remote period of antiquity the inhabitants of Egypt and Nubia were one and the same."

Abbe Emile Amelineau cites other evidence. his excavations show: "These Anu were agricultural people, raising cattle on a large scale along the Nile, shutting themselves up in walled cities for defensive purposes. To this people we can attribute...the most ancient Egyptian books {including} THE BOOK OF THE DEAD and the TEXT OF THE PYRAMIDS...They knew how to use metals. They made the earliest attempts at writing..." (Abbe Emile Amelineau. NOUVELLS FOUILLES d'ABYDOS, 1899, p. 248.

The above three paragraphs come from pages 121 to 125 in EGYPT REVISITED.